Topic: 1969 Metuchen Mach I Hood Black pics PLUS Need help with 69 Dearborn blackout

[Dave Stribling]

I had my friend who is the original owner of an original paint 69 Mach I 390 car bring his car to my shop so I could check out the hood blackout treatment.  I wanted to compare it to the stencil I bought and it is different.

Here's an overall shot of the hood.  The first thing I noticed is that the stripe is not 1/4 inch, its a 16th of an inch wide.  After years of rubbing the black is getting thin but the stripe is only 1/16 wide.  This is a Metuchen car built in May of 69.  Is this correct for all Metuchen cars?  Is this the same for Dearborn cars, 1/16th wide?


Photo 2: This shot shows the original paint on the front edge: the original red oxide, the grey build primer and then color.  Note the center of the stripe and the center of the blackout: the blackout area is sharp and pointy, and the stripe is rounded off.  This shows that the stripe WAS like the assmebly manuals (page 67 of the Body manual) said and applied with a stripe gun after the black was sprayed.


Photo 3: Shot showing the 1/16th inch stripe how it runs even down the sides. The breakoff of the blackout area is definitely a tape stripe, the pinstripe is rounded like a stripe gun



Photo 4: This shot shows the stripe ending before the cowl panel.  This is procedure 30 in the body assembly manual page 67



Photos 5 and 6: Shows the stripe as a secondary process because they don't  follow the same contour. Note the tape peel marks vs. the stripe gun




Finally, the book says that these were done after the bodies were assembled as you had to remove the wiper arms (page 64, element 10). Here's a couple of shots of black paint up under the front trim.




NOW, Maybe my customer is old a feeble and doesn't remember having his car repainted, but I think this follows the book pretty well.  My question is - I am doing a Dearborn 69 February build MAchI and does this match what I should have on the Dearborn car?  Or were they different from different plants?

Thanks - Dave

[J_Speegle]

I would think that the pinstripe orientation would differ if a worker didn't get the jig centered on the hood or some other operator error.

The thickness of the pinstripe might be a plant and time thing - possibly they used a different one at the time the example was built at NJ so I would follow what has been seen and measured on other original cars (where the standard came from) since the majority of details tend to come from Dearborn car rather than the other two plants.

Don't have allot of examples (more pictures from below the hood rather than above

And I've included some Boss 302's since they were done at the same plant - same workers, though later in the year

Hope this helps in some way


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